- GAZA (Reuters) - The militant
group Hamas said it would avenge the Israeli army's killing of four Palestinians
in a tank attack which Palestinian President Yasser Arafat called a crime
aimed at sabotaging peace efforts.
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- The Israeli army was ordered to investigate the death
of four members of one family in the Gaza Strip coastal village of Sheikh
Ijleen, and Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer expressed regret.
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- Israeli fears of fighting on a second front flared when
Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas fired artillery rounds and anti-tank missiles
at Israeli positions in the disputed Shebaa Farms border zone, drawing
retaliatory Israeli fire.
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- The army said three Israeli soldiers were wounded.
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- The Gaza raids and border fire coincided with a visit
by U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Satterfield, the first
time in weeks a U.S. envoy has met Israeli and Palestinian officials in
the region to discuss ways to restore calm.
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- Ben-Eliezer and Satterfield discussed reforms in the
Palestinian Authority, a defense ministry statement said.
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- After the Gaza Strip attack, thousands of people attended
a rally for Hamas, which has killed scores of Israelis in suicide attacks
in the 23-month uprising against occupation.
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- "The Israeli massacres, assassinations, arrests,
house demolitions and deportations will increase the determination of this
people to proceed in the path of resistance and jihad," Hamas founder
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin said in a message read out at the rally by an aide
because he was too ill to attend in person.
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- The Israelis and Palestinians agreed on a "Gaza-Bethlehem
First" plan last week under which Israel was to ease its military
clampdown in the Gaza Strip and West Bank city in return for Palestinian
security forces deploying to ensure calm.
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- Israeli tank rounds sprayed thousands of dart-like flechettes,
Palestinian doctors said, in an attack which frayed the security deal meant
to lay the groundwork for a cease-fire.
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- They killed Ruwaida Al-Hajeen, 55, her sons, Ashraf,
23, and Nihad, 17, and a cousin, Mohammed, 20.
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- An army spokesman said troops guarding Netzarim opened
fire when they saw "suspicious figures" crawling in the direction
of the Jewish settlement. Arafat said in a statement it was "a deliberate
crime" to sabotage peace efforts.
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- Netzarim and other settlements in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip have become frequent targets for Palestinian militants.
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- Israeli troops remain in six West Bank cities and nearby
towns they reoccupied after a spate of suicide bombings in June.
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- At least 1,517 Palestinians and 589 Israelis have been
killed since the uprising began after peace talks froze.
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